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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29070261">Things that Cloud Strife, former infantryman, currently enhanced, future to be announced (but potentially a mako monster) learned during his unofficial stay on the First Class floor.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowfantasy/pseuds/rainbowfantasy'>rainbowfantasy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>just be still with me [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Compilation of Final Fantasy VII</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional/Deleted Scene, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, No Beta We Die Like Canon Zack, Panic Attacks, Slice of Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:07:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,269</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29070261</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowfantasy/pseuds/rainbowfantasy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A slice of life bullet point fic for Cloud's stay with with the Firsts. This was originally at the beginning of chapter 25 of the main story, but it both got long and didn't really work. So here it is as an additional scene!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Angeal Hewley/Genesis Rhapsodos/Sephiroth, Zack Fair/Angeal Hewley/Genesis Rhapsodos/Sephiroth/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Cloud Strife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>just be still with me [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064600</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>131</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Things that Cloud Strife, former infantryman, currently enhanced, future to be announced (but potentially a mako monster) learned during his unofficial stay on the First Class floor.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western"> </p>
<ul>
<li>

<p class="western">Their respective public images were bullshit. Anyone who thinks Angeal is always the calm, collected and approachable teacher of wayward SOLDIERs everywhere has never seen the man cuss someone out when they spoils the ending of a movie he’s watching or sit sopping wet on Genesis’s side and play keep away with his copy of LOVELESS for shoving him into the bath. Anyone who thinks Genesis is always the driven, fiery and independent brat of a commander has never seen him fall asleep because the man is not just a cuddly sleeper but a ‘Stage V: no hope for recovery’ clinger and the on ly hope any of them had of not potentially being squashed to death by someone determined to cuddle close enough you might fuse was putting Zack next to him because he was just as bad.Anyone who thought of Sephiroth as the ever powerful and in control General has never seen him frustrated and trying to get tangles out of his wet hair post gooey monster mission and embed the brush into the wall - then scramble to try and patch it up before Angeal notices and he gets a lecture in treating his possessions respectfully.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">They had weird schedules. Though Zack had more or less taken an unofficial sabbatical to hang out with him while he got better, it was pretty rare to get all three of the others in the apartment at one time unless Angeal was cooking or it was the early hours of the morning. Given that Cloud had spent the better part of a week waking up at random times, he had been a bit surprised there always seemed to be someone around and awake.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">Speaking of, Angeal wasn't keen about letting anyone else help him cook. He could direct people to chop this or pour that in, but he said none of them could be trusted to season properly. The true marker of trust was when Angeal allowed Cloud the privilege of being allowed to help more but he promptly lost it by trying to beat some chicken in a bag and sending the marinade all over the kitchen when he managed to tear the bag without noticing.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">They had surprisingly normal lives. They spent time sorting out their cleaning and washing because they didn't like having other people in the apartment that they didn't trust even though technically they were serviced apartments. Uniforms had to be outsourced if they got too messy or bloody or in one notable case, burnt in several places where Genesis and Bahamut had apparently had some kind of disagreement that Genesis insisted he had won despite the state of his coat.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">They were reassuringly weird people. Sephiroth was the biggest contender for mythical cryptid because he seemed to appear behind him with no warning, frequently forgot to turn lights on if he entered a room which scared the shit out of him twice and used a knife and fork to eat burgers much to Zack's distress. Neither he nor Genesis had a scrap of modesty and didn't seem particularly bothered by wearing very little in the way of clothes, through only the latter winked at him if he caught him staring. For that matter, Genesis could and would stop at every available reflective surface to make sure he looked the way he wanted to and spent a lot of time trying to 'fix' some invisible flaws no one else could see while muttering to himself. Angeal knitted plant cozies with their names on them and would bring in one that looked sickly so it could have some company, where Genesis would offer to write a dirge for the fallen when one of the plants didn't recover. It was kind of sweet right up to the point he threatened to throw the remains of it at Sephiroth for suggesting they'd have a mass plant suicide from them trying to get away from his singing.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">It took five days for him to drink what Zack had called the best hot chocolate in the world, but it had lived up to expectations. Maybe he'd enjoyed it a little too much, because Angeal had definitely been staring at him the whole time for whatever was on his face. Genesis had said in a stage whisper he had a thing about making people feel good and Cloud had been smiling for twenty minutes straight. Given that Angeal actually did look kind of embarrassed, it was probably true.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">It was possible but not easy to get a First class drunk. Getting Sephiroth drunk required a battle plan. After a long day of dealing with the executives, they had lined up a 'Never Have I Ever' drinking game which seemed to be set up mostly to see how much they could get him to consume quickly by stating things he'd done that sounded ridiculous. It had led to Sephiroth, a little more than tipsy, putting his finger on one of Cloud's spikes and making what could only be described as a happy noise when it sprang back up again as soon as he let go. Cloud had tried to be offended about it, he really had but how could he be?</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">There was a lot of history there to the point it felt hard to keep up with. Zack had confided to him before that sometimes he felt like an outsider because they didn't have all the in jokes or funny stories together and he kind of got it. It was easier to explain to him than Zack, who had his own different history with Angeal where Cloud was coming in fresh so he kept asking. Nothing could have prepared him for Sephiroth's guest star on Lil' Stamp and Pals. It was the first bit of proof he'd ever seen that Sephiroth had been an awkward teenager, but he'd taken it in stride and promised to dig up incriminating things on Angeal and Genesis too for their trouble.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">There were a lot of unspoken boundaries that he was still learning. No one seemed to talk about Genesis cycling through more emotions by breakfast than most people had all day nor the brief moments of pure, destructive anger that just seemed to happen. No one brought up Angeal's father without him doing so first because he still struggled with grief ten years on, but if he brought it up, no one brought up his voice cracking. No one asked Sephiroth's childhood without him bringing it up and what snatches he'd learned had made him so sick to his stomach he'd had to clench his hands – something Genesis had noticed and put his hands over his with a grim smile. They had a few sharp edges, not unlike his own. It made him feel a little better from the fact nothing seemed to get at Zack and he had been wondering if it was just him.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">Sephiroth did not use an entire bottle of shampoo, but he did vary which shampoo he used. It took almost two weeks for Cloud to realise it was the one the person around the least that day, that he seemed to draw comfort from being able to surround himself with the smells and scents associated with home. It made him pine for the mountains in a way he hadn't in years and prompted him to talk about it for the first time.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">For as much shit as Genesis seemed to give Sephiroth for his eyes, Genesis seemed to be the one who liked to sit on surfaces not meant to be sat on and get grumpy if you tried to move him. Only once had he seen it done successfully, with Angeal picking him up under his arms and moving him to a different kitchen counter so he could get at the drawers. It had only resulted in a laugh and him pulling Angeal in to kiss him. Sephiroth had tried it a few days later, but he'd gotten pushed for his trouble as Genesis stormed off. </p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">Save for Zack, they didn't seem to have a lot of friends. They seemed to mostly exist in their own insular world, where there was them and then there was other people and somewhere along the way, he'd stopped being other people. They had stopped caring as much about appearances and about public displays of affection, Genesis especially. Mostly it was just touches here and there, brief kisses and curling up on the couch more than simply sitting together. There had been a couple of heavy duty make out sessions which hadn't really stopped when he came in, but fair was fair. One of those had been him and Zack after the latter had gotten excited about his enhanced strength and tried to tackle him, resulting in him flipping a very surprised but very into it Zack flat on his back.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">There was a surprising amount of fan club maintenance involved in their day to day lives. Angeal liked to write his thank you's by hand, Genesis was fond of recording short videos as responses and Zack was still finding his feet as a First so he'd been surprised when he started getting things in the mail. Most of it was sorted before they got it but they still ended up with cringey or inappropriately sexual requests which were occasionally a little closer to the truth than they liked to advertise. They all had horror stories of things they'd said here in private that had been 'leaked' to their fan clubs. It made Cloud feel a little bad for being a member of one, he hadn't realised how uncomfortable it made them to have their lives on display without consent. Sephiroth didn't have much to do with his as it was, it was handled by the company and they had long learned inviting him to speak even with a speech would sound wooden and forced. If anything, it just seemed to be a source of discomfort except to smile when Angeal had outed that a teenage Genesis had sent love poetry in and promptly got smacked repeatedly with the cushions from the couch.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">Sephiroth really was kind of a big cat. He liked to stretch out on the couch that got the most sun to work, he seemed to become energized at random hours of the night, he liked to rest his head on either Genesis's or Angeal's lap which seemed to result in actual petting and on one time, Zack had beaten Cloud's arm excitedly because Sephiroth had gotten roped into playing on the console with him and he had ended up not only enjoying it but his pupils had blown wide. He had promptly covered his eyes with his hand and Zack had won the game, getting shooed off the couch where he had stood to do his victory dance.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">They all taught classes, with Angeal having the biggest class load. Genesis largely taught materia and Sephiroth combat, but no one below Second was allowed in with Sephiroth because they were 'too fragile'. As such, he'd seen more of Angeal than either of the others because he came home at lunch if only to shoo Zack away to give him a break. Cloud had tried to insist he'd be fine on his own, but no one seemed to believe it. Truthfully, he wasn't sure he believed it either.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">Zack wasn't unaffected. Out of no where, he had started crying when they were sitting together and the surprise kept Cloud paralyzed as his boyfriend had furiously wiped at his eyes and apologised, saying he didn't know what had brought it on. In the end, Sephiroth had sat down with them and placed a hand on Zack's shoulder, telling him it would pass because bodies can't withstand high levels of panic for long periods and that they would stay with him until it did. Cloud stood by what he had said before about him being kind.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">Kind, but also impossible to keep up with. Cloud had seen him in battle before, but having him laser focused on you was exhilarating and terrifying.  As soon as Cloud could stand it, Sephiroth had been pulling him out of the apartment to his own and sparring until he didn't so much hit his limits as wave them goodbye as he went zooming past them. He had never been so tired, sore and drained, but the nightmares stayed away when he slept afterwards. Even if he hurt, he felt like he had been able to fight the way a real SOLDIER would or Sephiroth wouldn't keep pulling him back to try again and again, he'd be bored. It made him want to push himself even harder.</p>
</li>
<li>

<p class="western">So when the time came that everything had been falling apart, he felt more ready than he ever had to help them fight and get the hell out of Shinra no matter what. Genesis had kissed him lightly on the side of his mouth, telling him to watch over Zack because his attention tended to stray and took Angeal by his arm into the elevator to the sound of Zack squawking. Sephiroth had merely told them to be ready to fight but they didn't end up doing much of it on the way down, people took one look at Sephiroth and decided to take the stairs. When the lights switched into emergency lighting, Cloud didn't feel scared. If anything, for the first time since he'd woken up on the couch, Cloud didn't feel helpless or a burden. He was ready to help Shinra go up in the flames.</p>
</li>
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